Outdoor cabinets for housing telecommunication and/or electrical equipment are known, which cabinets may include vents for allowing air into or out of the housing to cool the equipment contained therein. Many cabinets include an access opening covered by a door or panel, and it is known to provide ventilation openings, sometimes partially covered by a plurality of louvers, in the panel. Other times, ventilation openings are provided in one of the walls of the cabinet.
It is generally desirable to design such cabinets to protect against water entry because water may damage or interfere with the proper operation of the enclosed equipment. Also, depending on the outdoor temperature and the amount of heat generated by the equipment in the cabinet, it may be desirable to provide a relatively high airflow into the cabinet to provide a desired level of cooling. It also may sometimes be desirable to provide an air filter to reduce the amount of dust and particulate matter that is drawn into the housing.
It can be difficult to keep out dust and moisture while maintaining a suitably high air flow. For example, small or constricted ventilation openings can be used to reduce water entry into the cabinet, but such openings may also adversely affect air flow into the cabinet and/or may be expensive to manufacture. Larger openings that provide higher air flow may allow an undesirably large amount of water into the cabinet. Air filters, on the other hand, tend to reduce air flow and may also absorb or collect water which may then find its way into the interior of the cabinet. It would therefore be desirable to provide a vented panel for an outdoor cabinet that allows adequate airflow into the cabinet while substantially reducing the passage of moisture and particulate matter into the cabinet.